You are never truly alone
by Lifeart
Summary: Another 'easy' mission. Mac was starting to hate word easy. Seriously, he was exhausted and in pain. He just had to push his feelings aside. He couldn't stop fighting. Not when Jack and Riley could be in danger. Warnings: Some violence and bad language. Mac whump.


**A/N Alrighty... So, I finally got my second one-shot ready. I'm still trying to figure out how to write the characters (it's the reason why there isn't that much dialogue),so if any of you have tips, please tell me. I already got a few very good tips and I'm eternally grateful for them. I can't believe how positive and supporting you guys have been towards me. So, thank you.**

 **Like I mentioned in my first little fic, I have only seen nine episodes so far. That's the reason Thornton is in this, so please, beare with me.**

 **Warnings: Some violence and bad language.**

 **Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own MacGyver and never will... The show belongs to its rightful owners.**

* * *

Mac let out a hiss of pain as he fell to his knees. He was so out of breath and tired. He didn't even hear one of the bad guys sneaking up on him. Thankfully the guy kicked a piece of metal accidently which alerted Mac. The young man was quickly on his feet and dodging the knife coming his way. Mac was exhausted and in pain but he didn't stop fighting. He couldn't. Not when Jack and Riley could be in danger.

"Why don't you just give up MacGyver? There's no one to save you and you can't keep this up for long," the man tilted his head to the side as he approached the young man. The man's name was Jarod Huntley. Huntley was a bit taller than Mac, had very dark hair and green eyes. He was wearing a black jacket and jeans.

He was also a part of a six men group that the team had been sent to capture. As soon as the team had arrived to their destination, it turned out that the men had been expecting them. Mac had gotten separated from his friends hours ago. He could only hope that Jack and Riley hadn't been separated and that they had gotten to safety.

During the first hour Mac had tried to locate his friends but it had been useless. Then two of the men had found him. The fight hadn't been easy. The young agent had been trying to make a small bomb that would give him just enough time to escape but one of the men had made him. The man then hit the bomb when tried to shoot at Mac. The explosion threw the man into a wall and Mac across the floor. Luckily Mac survived with just bruises. The other man had been knocked unconscious. Mac hadn't stayed around for the man to wake up or for his buddy to find him.

The second hour was relatively quiet. The DXS agent had searched for a safe place to rest for a while. He was starting to think that maybe he wasn't just bruised. His chest hurt, a lot, and his breath was wheezing slightly. He probably had some broken ribs but he didn't have time to check. His friends were his priority. He needed to find them. Soon after that he had found the abandoned warehouse he was in now. Unfortunately he hadn't been the only person to find the place.

"Where are my friends, Huntley?" Mac grunted and let his eyes wander around the room. The room was bare and made out of concrete. Mac had to curse his luck. There wasn't anything useful in the room. Only the piece of scrap metal Jarod had kicked. Well, he considered it a win that the piece of metal had been there in the first place. Without it he could have ended up much worse.

Suddenly Jarod lunged forward, giving MacGyver barely enough time to register what was happening. They both went down, hard. Mac stifled a cry of pain and grabbed the arm holding the knife. Jarod turned them so that he was straddling the younger man underneath him. "You know, Mac- I can call you Mac, right?" Jarod began. Mac just grunted and tried to fight the knife from the man. If he just could get the man to stop for a moment, he could go through with his plan. Well, it wasn't exactly a plan but it would do for the time being. Mac had realized that the floor was covered in sand and he could use it to his advantage.

"I never expected you to be so hard man to find. I always expected Dalton to be the one to fight back," Jarod continued. "But this is so much more interesting. I don't even regret leaving Dalton and the woman to the others."

Mac couldn't find the strenght to reply. It took all of his energy to keep the knife at a safe distance from him. On the inside, however, he was shouting and cursing at the man. If the men had harmed his friends...

Suddenly they heard a shout come from the outside. Jarod lifted his gaze from the young agent and stopped for a moment. MacGyver used the momently distraction to strike. He grabbed a handful of sand and threw it straight into the man's eyes. Jarod growled and dropped the knife in shock as he began to wipe the sand away. Mac quickly pushed the man to the side and scrambled up. He grabbed the knife and ran out of the room. Not soon after he heard Jarod shouting after him. He didn't stop running.

At least not until two armed men blocked his way. He came to a halt and turned to run back the way he came but a third man was standing there with a gun pointed at him.

"Oh, come on," Mac gasped. Couldn't anything go right today? Apparently not because at that moment Jarod came striding out of the room right at him. Mac tried to back away from him but then Jarod hit him to the face. The agent lost his balance and fell to the floor.

"I'm not done with you yet," Jarod hissed and kicked Mac to the side harshly. Then he turned to look at the three other men. "Let's take him with us." The last thing Mac saw was Jarod smirking down at him before he gave in to the darkness.

* * *

Mac groaned as he blinked his eyes open. He shook his head slightly but regretted it instantly when pain flashed through him. Why the hell did the bad guys always aim for the head? He looked around the room and realized that he was in some small room made of concrete The room was seemingly empty. The walls were bare and there were no windows. The floor was dusty and worn out. There was a rusty sink in the corner close to the door but that was all.

The young man quickly found out that his hands were cuffed behind him to a pipe. He let his head fall back. He was aching all over and he couldn't think straight. He had to figure something out before Jarod or anyone came back to the room. He needed to get out of wherever he was. He didn't want to stick around to find out why the men had captured him and taken him back to their compound.

He felt the floor around the pipe and hoped to find something he could use to pick the lock on the cuffs. It would be a lot easier if he could reach his trusty swiss army knife but he couldn't. Then his left hand came across a piece of stiff wire. A small smile graced his lips. This could be his way out.

He picked up the wire. It took him a couple of minutes to find the keyhole and bend the wire to the right shape without seeing what he was doing. Then he inserted the wire in to the keyhole and twisted the wire. He sighed in relief as the cuff sprang open. With a quick motion he pulled his hands in front of him and started to free his other hand. He grimaced slightly as he looked at his wrists. The cuffs had been tight and now Mac's wrists were bloody and raw. He didn't know how much time had passed but he knew that someone must be coming to the room soon. And he really didn't want to be in the room when that happened.

A minute later MacGyver pushed himself up and put the cuffs into his back pocket. They might prove to be useful at some point. He stumbled slightly as he went to the door. He listened for a few minutes but didn't hear any voices so he tried the handle on the door. To his surprise the door was unlocked.

 _'These guys are are pretty sloppy if they thought that only a pair of handcuffs would stop me from escaping. See, I have been in situations like these way too often for my liking but never, and I mean never, has someone been careless enough to make things this easy for me. But I'm not going to complain about it. It's a nice change.'_

The hallway was empty like he had predicted. The walls were plain white and the floor was made of concrete. Mac kept his right hand on the wall as support as he made his way to the door at the end of the hallway. When he got closer to the door he heard voices coming closer. He quickly ducked into the closest room and slammed the door shut just as the other door to the hallway opened. Mac pressed his back against the door and held his breath as the voices went past the room. As soon as he couldn't hear the voices anymore he opened the door and sprinted at the door that would hopefully lead him outside. It wouldn't take long for the men to realize that he had escaped.

"He's not here! He's escaped!" someone shouted angrily in the room where Mac had previously woken up in. The agent just picked up his speed and ran out of the hallway. He came to a stop immediately. He was in a stairwell. Which way should he go?

Then he realized something, there hadn't been any windows in the rooms. He had to be underground. Mac made his decision and started running up the stairs. He had to push the stabbing pain aside as he heard voices shouting a couple of flights down from him.

He had been running for a minute when he heard voices coming from above him. He ran to the closest door but then he noticed that the door didn't have any handle. The door could only be opened from the other side. Mac ran his hands through his hair as he tried to figure out a plan. The men were coming closer by the second. There was no way to door next to him flew open which made Mac jump violently.

"Come on, kid, we don't have much time left!"

MacGyver's eyes widened. He would recognize that voice anywhere. "Jack!" he exclaimed and stared at the person in shock.

"Drag your skinny ass out of the door before we get caught because of you," Jack grunted and shot a few warning shots at the approaching men.

Mac couldn't help but smirk as he ran past Jack. "About time you got here," he told the man. Jack just grumbled something unintelligent under his breath as he started leading the way outside.

Even though he was all business at the moment Jack felt relieved. It had been over six hours since the kid had gone missing at the airport when the men had ambushed them. Jack hadn't even noticed that the younger man had gone missing until Riley had pointed it out to him after they had gotten away from the men. Some partner he was. He didn't even notice that his parter, who he considered as a little brother, had gone missing. He would feel guilty about that for years to come.

After that they had gone to find a safe place to stay and call Thornton and tell her to send back up for them. Eventually they found a small motel where they got themselves a room and called Thornton. They were told to stay put and wait for the help to arrive but Jack wasn't about to leave Mac to fight against the men alone. So after taking care of Riley's sprained wrist they were on the move.

It took four freaking hours for them to find MacGyver. Jack told Riley to stay at the SUV while he went inside the compound to find the kid. With Riley's help it hadn't been too hard. When he heard someone banging a door and faint shouting he almost got a heart attack. Right after that Riley told him that Mac was in the stairwell behind the door a couple of feet away from him and that the men had him cornered. Jack hadn't thought twice before pushing the door open to get to his best friend.

Jack shook his head and pushed his thoughts aside. Now his first priority was to get Mac safely out of the building and to a safe place. Screw Thornton and her orders. The back up could deal with the men. Mac was and always would be his first priority.

The younger man didn't look too good. Jack had noticed the way his other hand was wrapped around his mid-section protectively. He was also worried about the way the other man's breath was wheezing. Jack was seriously considering about wrapping Mac in bubble wrap and hiding him from the world.

"Which way?" Mac frowned when the hallway split into two hallways.

"Uh...Riley?" Jack grimaced as he tried to remember which way he had come from.

 _"Take the one on your right,"_ Riley instructed him. _"Three men are coming down the left hallway, by the way, so I suggest you two get going."_

"Thanks, Ri," Jack nodded slightly. Then he began to lead the way once more.

 _"Just bring our boy back."_

* * *

Mac covered his head as he ran towards the door that would lead him outside. Jack was right behind him and shooting cover fire. Mac pushed the door open and stumbled outside. He looked around for something he could use to block the door. He spotted a long piece of wood not too far away. He grabbed it and returned to the door just as Jack emerged out of the door. Mac pushed the door close and positioned the piece of wood against the door so that it would hold the men off for a while.

Jack shook his head in amusement as he turned to look at the younger agent. "Dude, that was awesome! The way you just jumped over the guy on the stairs, the look on his face was priceless!"

They had gotten a bit lost at one point when they had lost connection to Riley momentarily. They found themselves from a stairwell once again. When they made their way downstairs, one of the guys got in their way. Mac had just jumped on top of the railing and over the man without missing a beat. The man had looked so confused and turned to look after him. Jack had been imprressed himself but he wasn't going to admit it. He had just hit the man with the butt of his gun before the man could lift his gun and shoot at Mac.

Mac turned around to smirk at Jack but then pain flashed through him and his knees gave out. He must have blacked out for a moment because the next thing he knew, Jack was on his knees in front of him. He couldn't help but groan. Now that the adrenaline was starting to wear out, he began to realize how much he hurt.

"Y'alright, bro?" Jack eyed him worriedly.

Mac tried to push Jack's hands away but found out that he didn't have the strenght to do it. "I'm fine," he shook his head slightly. "We need to move before Jarod and his goons find another way outside."

"Are you shitting me? You can barely stay upright and you're tellin' me that you're fine?" Jack glared at Mac who just shrugged weakly. Jack sighed. He gripped the kid's arm and pulled him up. The kid was right, they needed to move before the men found them again. The older man then ducked under MacGyver's arm and wrapped his other hand around the kid's waist.

"Let's go," Jack grunted and started moving forward. The fact that Mac didn't even respond to him made Jack even more worried. Even though Mac sometimes had his quiet moments he was rarely this quiet and never during a mission.

* * *

They were finally on a plane on their way to home. Mac was sleeping on one of the couches. He really was out like a light. Jack and Riley were sitting in their seats, talking quietly.

"Is he going to be alright?" Riley glanced at Mac briefly before turning his attention back to the older man.

Jack looked at Riley with an unreadable look on his face. "I'll make sure he is," he said. He would make sure of it. Back at the motel Mac had kept insisting that he was fine but Jack wouldn't listen to any of his bullshit. He had ranted at him for full five minutes. He had even threatened to tan his hide if he ever tried hide his injuries from him again. After that Mac had finally given in and let the older man check his injuries.

The kid had some impressive bruising on his chest and back. He also had a slight bump on the back of his head and Jack had determined that he had a light concussion. Then there were Mac's wrists. Jack hoped that his wrists wouldn't scar too badly. The older man hadn't found any broken bones but he was still going to make Mac go to the hospital to get checked out by a real doctor. He would force the kid to go if he had to. He knew that Thornton would be on his side as well as Riley so it shouldn't be too hard.

Soon his attention was drawn to the younger man who was starting to mumble in his sleep. He looked distressed and Jack didn't like it. Soon the mumbling grew louder and Mac started trashing on the couch as well. Riley and Jack shared a glance and the older man was on the younger man's side in a second.

"Mac, you gotta wake up, kid," Jack started with a surprisingly soft voice. He hadn't used the tone very often, only when Riley had been little and having nightmares. He figured that the tone would be good at the moment, too.

When it didn't work he knew what would wake Mac up. He really didn't want to do it. He knew that shaking Mac could end up badly because of the younger man's army background. Waking up a soldier in distress could end up with someone getting hurt. And that was something Jack didn't want to happen.

"I'm sorry, bro," Jack shook his head before taking a firm grip of Mac's wrists and pinning them against his chest tightly.

Mac's eyes flew open instantly and he began struggling against the older man's hold. "Let go of me! Let me go!" Mac shouted. Jack could see a flash of fear in the younger man's eyes.

"Mac, stop struggling against me. You're safe. We're on our way home," Jack said firmly yet softly as he tried to get through to the younger man.

Suddenly Mac froze. His eyes searched for Jack's frantically. As soon as their eyes met, Mac relaxed.

"Did I interrupt something?" he rasped out after a long silence.

"Nah, kid, you didn't interrupt anything," Jack shook his head and released Mac's hands. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Mac glared at him. "There's nothing to talk about," he told him sharply. It was the truth. There was no use in troubling Jack with his things. Besides, he knew that the nightmare was irrational. He was safe and the men had been caught.

"Why do you always have to be so stubborn, man?" Jack crossed his arms and looked at Mac with an unhappy look. "You know we're always there for you no matter what. What happened before Ri and I found you?"

"I tried to find you and stay away from the men. Didn't work, the men found me and took me to the compound. That's all. Anything else you would like to know? Or can I go back to sleep?" Mac grunted. He knew that he was a little too harsh but he really didn't want to talk about what happened. He needed to process and deal with what happened by himself first. Then he could think about telling Jack about the day. But not a second before.

He had been like that since his father had left. He hadn't wanted to bother his grandpa or Boze with his stuff so he had learned to deal with his emotions on his own. After he had met Jack he had learned that sharing emotions wasn't a bad thing. However, he still liked to process things on his own before talking to others.

"I'm sorry Jack. I'm not just ready to talk about it just yet. Maybe when we get home or tomorrow I'll be ready to talk," Mac sighed and looked at the man. "Just, give me some time."

Jack stared at Mac for a minute. "Alright, but you'll have to talk to someone at some point. Don't keep these things locked in that enormous brain of yours." Mac nodded.

"Go back to sleep. I'll wake you when we land," Jack said once more and squeezed Mac's shoulder gently.

* * *

It was two days after they got to home that Mac was ready to talk to Jack. They we're sitting in Jack's living room in silence. Mac was slowly but surely healing. Everything was well except for the fact that the younger man couldn't get rid of his nightmares. He would wake up in cold sweat almost every night. It had gotten to the point where Jack had brought Mac to stay at his place. He knew that Bozer meant well and was only looking out for Mac but Mac really didn't like being fussed over too much.

"You know, I wasn't so worried about getting captured back there," Mac said, drawing Jack's attention. "Of course I didn't want to get caught but it wasn't what I was worried about. I was worried about you and Riley."

Jack listened to his friend in silence. He knew that if he interrupted the younger man now, the kid would shut down once more. He was somewhat surprised that the kid talked to him without any pushing. Jack took it as a win. The kid was finally starting to understand that he didn't have to deal with his emotions alone.

"When Jarod caught up to me, he said that I should give up. That no one was going to come for me," Mac continued. Jack clenched his fists. Jarod was lucky that he was already in custody. Otherwise Jack would pay him a little visit and probably introduce him to his fists.

Mac sighed and glanced at the older man. He really didn't know what he was going to say. He just needed to get some things out of his head. "I was scared that the men had done something to you or Riley. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if something had happened to you two. I would have blamed myself for not being there."

Jack couldn't keep quiet anymore. He had to set some things straight. "Listen to me, man, if something had happened to us, it wouldn't have been your fault in any way. You were able to use your brain and hide from the men's radar for who knows how long. That's damn impressing if you ask me," he nodded and moved to sit a little closer to the young man.

"I was exhausted when Jarod found me," Mac admitted. "I didn't even notice him at first. It was pure luck that he didn't get me right there. I was hurting and tired from all the running and the encounters with the men. Do you know what kept me fighting? It was you. You and Riley. Because I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself for causing you sorrow or pain. So, I fought back," Mac turned to look at him. "It didn't work though. Jarod's buddies found us right as I was about to make a run for it. And the rest is history."

"And then I came in to save your skinny ass," Jack smirked and ducked the pillow that was thrown at him.

"Shut up, Jack," Mac grumbled but he was smiling at the same time. He was glad that Jack let the subject drop.

"You know what, dude, I'm feeling up to some awesome pizza," Jack patted Mac's knee and stood up. "A movie sound nice, too."

"Anything but Die Hard," Mac pleaded. Actually he wouldn't mind watching one of the movies but he decided to keep up their banter.

"Well, I don't want to watch any disney movies either," Jack glanced at him pointedly.

"Don't pretend you don't like those movies. I know you're hardcore Frozen fan," Mac smirked. "You aren't hiding it very well."

"Oh that's it," Jack put his phone away and turned to Mac. Mac's eyes widened as he stood up from the couch.

"Now, Jack, remember that I'm recovering from _very serious_ injuries," Mac protested but he knew that it was useless. Then Jack lunged at him.

"I'll show you how hardcore I can be."

"Jack-... Jack!"

* * *

 **A/N I'm so not happy with the ending but I guess it will do for now. Please give me feedback, the good, the bad, the ugly, I can take it. I promise. And please let me know if you find any mistakes, I'm eager to learn from them. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GIVING YOUR TIME TO READ THIS STORY!**

 **Also: How do you come up with the story titles?! I suck at them...**


End file.
